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Absinthe is an alcoholic beverage that usually contains about 70% (sometimes 75% or even 85% and 86%) of alcohol. The most important component of absinthe is bitter wormwood, it's essential oils contain a large amount of thujone. The other components of the drink are: common wormwood, anise, fennel, calamus, mint, lemon balm, licorice, angelica, and some other herbs.
Recipes for tinctures in which wormwood is used can be found even in the times of Ancient Egypt, The doctors Hippocrates and Dioscorides. In those times, such drinks were used for medicinal purposes. There are several versions of the appearance of absinthe. According to one of them, the drink began to be produced by the Henriot sisters in Switzerland in 1792 in the town of Couvet. The women were involved in the preparation of medicinal remedies. One of them was made by distilling wormwood-anise tincture. The sisters distributed the elixir with the help of the doctor Pierre Ordiner. Some historians believe that the recipe for absinthe was invented by Ordiner himself. Anyway, in 1797 Henri Duby and Henri-Louis Pernod got the recipe for the drink and started its mass production.
Absinthe dramatically gains popularity during the French colonial wars in the 30s-40s of the XIX century. By 1888, the popularity of this strong alcohol does not yield to wine. More cheaper and low-quality brands of absinthe appear. The presence of thujone in the drink and increasing abuse of absinthe leads to more frequent cases of alcoholism, mental disorders and aggression. In the end, absinthe was virtually expelled from many countries in the world: Switzerland, USA, France, Belgium, Italy, Bulgaria, Germany. Absinthe began to be called a drug. By the 2000s, the drink was allowed in some countries on condition of limiting the amount of thujone.
There are such basic types of absinthe: By Color: green, yellow, red and black. By Strength: strong (55-65%), extremely strong (70-85%). By thujone content: high content : 25-100 mg/l, low content of thujone 1.5-10 mg/l, without thujone.